Failures in stethoscope hygiene can lead to patient infections. You can lead a doctor to disinfection, but how do you get them to clean ... Or wipe ... Or swab a stethoscope? That's the question raised by a new quality improvement project. It is the latest report to find that healthcare providers rarely perform stethoscope hygiene between patient encounters, despite its importance for infection prevention. Source 8w.
DNA study shows stethoscopes loaded with bacteria, including staphylococcus. Stethoscopes carried by health care practitioners are loaded with diverse bacteria, including some that can cause healthcare-associated infections, according to a study. The research also reviewed the effectiveness of cleaning methods, finding a standardized approach to be superior for removing bacteria compared with various approaches employed by health care practitioners. Source 4g.